PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — For the first time in school history, the Portsmouth Girls basketball team has made Ohio’s state tournament. They play Ottawa-Glandorf for a Division III state semifinal game on Thursday night at the University of Dayton Arena.
It’s a state Final Four appearance that’s been six years in the making.
That’s when Head Coach Amy Hughes took over the program. She was a successful college player at the University of Connecticut and Xavier University and coach before getting the call to build a program at Portsmouth. She wouldn’t say “Yes” until she called her dad and asked him to join her on the bench.
“I said, ‘I’ll take it if you’ll join me. But I’m not taking it by myself,’” Hughes said.
Mike Hughes had been a winning coach for boys’ programs at several schools in Southern Ohio and he fathered four daughters who played Division I college basketball. The kids here at Portsmouth call him ‘Pappy.’
“When we started, we just said we’re going to build it from the ground up,” Mike Hughes said.
They started by teaching the fundamentals and serving up a healthy dose of discipline.
“We had to instill discipline and work ethic,” he said. “Time on task was really important to us.”
Even though the girls were still learning the sport, their coaches scheduled games against some of the best teams around.
“Amy doesn’t care how good they are. Play the best we can find,” Hughes said.
“Sometimes we argue about that,” his daughter said.
“The first time it was a little struggle, but afterwards we just, like, realized, it’ll get us ready for the tournament,” said junior starter Daysha Reid. “So Pappy and Amy are really good at getting us ready for those types of teams.”
Daysha said her coaches are helping them to prepare for basketball and life off the court too.
“A state championship would be nice, but getting to college, giving them a free future is definitely a goal,” Amy said.
“Amy, she tries to push us on and off the court and make sure we’re doing good and focusing on the type of things we need to be focused on,” Daysha said. “Pappy knows a lot about basketball, so he helps us a lot.”
Hughes has helped them through some challenges.
“We had our lumps,” he said. “We played in the district finals last year. We only had six players on our team and we finished the game with four. That sort of turned the program around.”
Now they have nine players, and just one senior. The Hughes family thinks the program is only going to get stronger.
“It’s been it’s been exciting, and it’s been fun,” Mike Hughes said. “It’s actually been really good for the community, too. They’ve gotten behind us. They need a winner and they’ve got one.”
Thanks to the father-daughter duo.
“It’s a privilege and honor to be able to work with my dad,” Hughes said.
When it comes to family, that term extends beyond the coach and her dad.
“We’re like sisters,” Daysha said. “Everything, the community, all of us together, is like a big family.”